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Monday, May 18, 1998

Trout action heats up along Aransas Bay shorelines

By BUDDY GOUGH / Corpus Christi Caller-Times

ROCKPORT, Texas -- Nothing's quite as pretty as a bay meadow in the morning, when through the smoky haze you find the big trout hiding there.

Like Wednesday in Aransas Bay, for example, with a big yellow-mouth speck fireballing straight up the line over shallows of sand and grass glowing gold and green.

Frantically reeling the bellied line, trying to play catch up and hook set and losing as the trout won the race amd flared sidewise to spit the plug at the feet of fishing guide Jay Watkins.

"That was a nice one," Watkins noted, meaning a 24-inch-plus speck.

It was the first good one to get away, but not the last on day of wading the shorelines of Aransas Bay.

No problemo.

The biggest and best would not escape.

As the sow specks have been sliding off the shorelines in the southern half of the Coastal Bend, they have been moving into the shallows of the northern half, Watkins had explained before the trip.

He and his lure-casting clients had been claiming several specks a day in the 4- to 6-pound range, plus an occasional 7- or 8-pounder.

Not a lot of big specks to be sure, but a worthy number for North Country anglers who would rather be in skinny water than in fat city for schoolie trout on the reefs.

Proving where there's smoke, there's fire, the action started hot on the first shoreline where Watkins deployed his clients Lynn Houston of Houston and Frank Shepherd, formerly of Houston and now Winter Park, Colorado. Both experienced anglers are regular visitors to the Coastal Bend.

The trio lined up abreast, covering a 50-yard swatch of shoreline from shin depth out to the waist-high "break."

Where exactly?

Pick any well-known sandy, grassy shoreline or beach of southern Aransas Bay. We tried them all and then some -- San Jose Island, Mud Island, Traylor Island, Harbor Island, Lydia Ann Island.

At other times, Watkins has ranged as far north as Matagorda Island in successful pursuit of good-sized trout in the shallows.

When wind conditions have been conducive, the guide has favored casting topwater "walking" plugs that put the thunder and lightning in shallow stalking.

With winds light and easterly early Wednesday, the anglers chose to wag the dog with the newest, hottest plug on the market, the Mirrolure Top Dog.

Wading closest to shore, Shepherd scored first with redfish. Out on the edge of the break, Watkins was taking hits from trout.

By the end of the first wade, Shepherd had his limit of 3 good-sized reds, while Watkins had counted 8 nice specks. Most were stout fish in the 20-inch class, but one was a fat 24-incher weighing better than 4 pounds.

Count one in the quest for quality.

Besides that, there had been enough thunderous short strikes or brief hookups with good-sized specks to keep everyone's hopes up.

The next wade featured a wider expanse of back-island shallows where a pasture of solid green merged with a scattered of sand and grass beds in knee-deep water.

Watkin's sharp eyes spotted something of interest far back in the shallowest, quietest water.

"You guys want to catch some tailing redfish on topwater lures?" he asked, pointing to a distant area of disturbed water on the riffled flat.

Time out.

Following Watkins' directions, we circled wide of the reds, getting the wind to our backs to wade stealthily into casting range.

"It looks like there are about 50 of them, all tailing. See Ôem?" Watkins noted quietly.

Framed against a backdrop of duck blinds and distant dunes, the ankle-deep water was gin clear, the grass was green and the tails fluttered on the silvery surface burnished butterflies.

"You're wading right into the middle of a John Cowan painting, guys," Watkins said softly, framing the scene in perfect perspective.

Houston sneaked with 15 yards of the tailing redfish and hooked up immediately and Shepherd followed suit, sending the water boiling and bulging in all directions as the school spooked.

We got another pass after the school regrouped and experience another topwater encounter.

Then, it was back to trout stalking.

On a third shoreline, concentrating on waters just inshore of the break line, the anglers waded along the curving contour of the break line.

They picked up several keeper specks and drew some heavy mis-hits before Watkins' Top Dog got a good bite on another hefty 24-inch speck.

Count two.

The next two wading forays produced scattered small fish action, but were uneventful for quality trout as increasing winds and choppier waters dictated a switch to Watkins' favorite soft plastic, a Bass Assassin colored pumpkinseed/chartreuse.

But our fortunes shifted in mid-afternoon on a fourth shoreline of shallow sand bars and grassy guts where a 26-inch speck ambushed an Assassin at the edge of sand and grass.

Count three.

"This is a fourth-quarter fish," Watkins said, hefting the a trout that would weigh more than six pounds on hand-held scales.

It was, however, just the beginning of the fourth-quarter action. Under the smoldering haze of the burnt out day, we smoked Ôem.

Lost a good one, but claimed a 25-incher for a four count.

Lost a couple more good ones, but came back with the day's best trout of 26" inches and a respectable five count.

As an angler who has recently become involved in saltwater tournament circuits and attuned to the kind of strings it takes to win, Watkins sized up the catch, "That's three (trout) for nearly 18, four for about 22 (pounds) or five for 26. I'll take those numbers."

But in between the big fish bouts, there were more encounters with redfish and headshaking trout from 18 to 21 inches.

Altogether, the total score came to about 30 trout and eight reds while sticking to a shallow-water game plan that gave the best chance for quality trout.

After all, pretty is as pretty does.

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Distributed by The Associated Press